This disclosure relates in general to radiation systems and methods and in particular to methods and systems for automatic health detection for motion axes in medical linear accelerators (MLAs).
Radiation systems such as medical linear accelerators include various motion axes that operate coordinately to produce and deliver treatment beams and to position patients and other units such as imaging devices. A motion axis may include a motor operable to move a device in a linear and/or an angular direction, and one or more feedback devices that provide position and/or velocity information about the axis. There are instances that a motor may slip, an axis may have wearing components which are nearing the end of their life, feedback devices and/or sensors may fail, slip, or move, or an axis may be serviced without being properly calibrated prior to use. Any of these problems constitute safety hazards and may cause a mistreatment or undesirable machine shutdown.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for detecting the health of motion axes in a medical linear accelerator. There is a need for increasing the overall operating capability of a medical linear accelerator and preventing unexpected shutdowns of the machine.